Into the Twilight

Twilight was a selfish pony.

At least that's what she thought of herself at this point. She was still alive, but only for one reason. The next time she saw her brother, she needed to thank him, for it was his spells that he taught her that saved her life.

However, this particular spell came at a price.

Instead of casting a shielding spell over her and the train car, she encased herself in a stronger spell that would protect her from almost all external trauma. It had a faster casting time, took less effort to cast and worked more efficiently.

It didn't protect the ponies in the train car, though.

She needed to survive, she needed to see her friends at least one more time. Even if it meant others would die, even if the other spell was slightly less effective, she couldn't take the chance. She needed to live so that more ponies in the future might live.

That's what she told herself.

She stood up slowly, the pain from the scratch marks across her body and the constant ringing in her ears was all she needed to tell that she was alive. She started to cough profusely, the smoke and heat from the fires surrounding her were beginning to feel too intense for her.

How many ponies had died because of her?

She began to limp slowly past the wreckage of the train, she couldn't see any survivors, she clung to the small hope that some had made it out before she woke up. She only took a few more steps forward before she saw it.

To say it was intimidating would be an understatement. The beast was made of pure darkness, its shadowy figure melded into the night around it. Its menacing white eyes pierced into the very depths of Twilight's soul, her entire body froze as she stared back at it.

As she stared back at them.

There had to be dozens of them, they all possessed the same stark white eyes. They all had the same primal objective.

They wanted to kill her, and rip her to pieces.

Their outlines vaguely resembled that of a pony's, but she knew better. The original stood up, walking away from the corpse that it was feasting upon, and screeched at her.

Twilight turned towards the train tracks, and ran.

She never galloped so fast in her life, nothing could compare to this, not even when she was rushing to get to the train station when her life depended on it. If she was caught by these things, she would suffer the most brutal of deaths, Twilight had never been so afraid. Their screeches continued, echoing into the night, rusted nails on a chalkboard merged with radio static.

Following the train tracks, Twilight could just barely see an outline of Ponyville in the distance, illuminated by street lamps and fire. Twilight felt like a siege engine running on fumes, she had nothing keeping her going other than sheer willpower.

She would not die, not here, not now.

Twilight illuminated the train tracks ahead of her with her horn, looking back and launching a spell at the one closest to the front. The spell didn't do anything to it, its body simply absorbed the spell before its glow dissipated entirely.

This couldn't be real. This was a living nightmare, Equestria and Tartarus were synonymous with each other now.

Twilight was quickly closing in on the town, she could now hear the sounds of distant screams coming from within Ponyville, none of them sounded like any of her friends so far. Twilight was only a few feet from the entrance of Ponyville before one of the shadows pounced her.

Twilight never imagined these things to be corporeal, let alone have significant weight to them. She was pinned against the cobblestone road, helpless against the black beast. She was able to see its maw clearly, lined with razor-sharp fangs, Twilight accepted her fate.

An orange blur knocked the creature off of her in the blink of an eye, a sickening crack could be heard a few feet away, as well as a sizzling sound right after. In an instant, Applejack was there, her emerald eyes filled with trepidation.

"Twilight, thank Celestia yer here! What's goin' on? Where did you go?"

Twilight stood up wearily and looked back at the shadows catching up to them, it almost looked like they were wincing at the light from the fire.

"We'll talk about it later Applejack, we need to get to the others and drive these things out of town!"

The two took off into the center of town, evading the monsters that were ransacking nearby homes. Applejack picked up the conversation, "Ah still don't understand why ya had to up and leave like that, you made us worried sick!"

Twilight gave her a remorseful glance, "Yes, you have every right to be mad at me, but I had to act quickly. This, this attack is happening worldwide Applejack, no pony is safe."

Applejack's expression turned into a hard glare, "Well, we can make sure that Ponyville is safe at the very least. The rest of our friends and mah family are holed up near Sweet Apple Acres. Ah hope ya know some fire spells, 'cause that seems to be the only thing that stops 'em."

Twilight's horn emitted a small spark, before an orange glow encased its entirety. "Really? You're asking me if I know a spell?"

Applejack gave her a small chuckle, "Fair point."

When they finally arrived to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight let out a small gasp. Several of the trees had caught fire and streaks of black painted the ground around them. The house was in fairly good condition, but the barn looked like it had been heavily damaged.

Twilight thought that Applejack looked worn out, but it seemed like the rest of her friends were in even worse condition. Rainbow Dash was littered with cuts and scrapes, her mane was slightly singed from all the fire around them. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both covered in mud and grime, frantically smacking away the monsters that charged them. They were guarding Fluttershy, who's left side of her face was heavily bandaged.

Twilight and Applejack rushed over to the four of them, attacking any that got in their way. It seemed like they couldn't be killed, their bodies simply evaporated out of existence after a certain amount of trauma was inflicted upon them. Still, that didn't stop Twilight from trying.

Twilight channeled all of the raw anger, confusion and fear that she had gathered over the past hour and poured it into her magic. Scorching flames and balefire incinerated the monsters in front of her, their screeches muffled instantly.

Twilight fought viciously, hitting any and all targets in her way. Her vision was becoming blurry, she couldn't even hear the sounds of her friends calling to her anymore.

Twilight glanced at the demons fading into the darkness, and collapsed.